Report of gunfire locks down Capitol

False alarm yields waits and searches, no perpetrators

By Liz Sidoti, Associated Press | May 27, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Heavily armed Capitol police swarmed through a House of Representatives office building and briefly closed the Capitol yesterday after a congressman thought he heard gunfire and triggered what turned out to be a frightening false alarm.

Authorities reported no arrests, gunfire, or injuries after a three-hour search that stranded lawmakers and aides in their offices -- though one aide was so rattled by the sight of police tactical teams that she was taken to a nearby hospital.

Throughout the day, officers with rifles stood by outside and ambulances arrived after the phoned-in report of gunfire in the garage of the Rayburn House Office Building.

The report originated with Representative Jim Saxton, Republican of New Jersey, his press secretary said. Saxton heard what he thought were gunshots and had a staff member call Capitol Police, spokesman Greg Keeley said.

``I heard what I thought to be between six and 10 shots. It sounded exactly like gunfire to me," Saxton told Fox News Channel after the search was concluded and the building was reopened.

Capitol Police Sergeant Kimberly Schneider said officers were looking at a ``plausible explanation" that the day's events resulted from noise made by construction workers in the Rayburn garage.

``In doing their routine duties, they made some sort of a noise that sounded like shots fired. So it was a valid call," she said.

On high alert, police lined the street between the Capitol and the Rayburn building, rifles prominently displayed, and four ambulances, two firetrucks, and other emergency vehicles on the scene. Police searched the sprawling building, where congressional staff members had locked themselves into their offices as a precaution.

Before the all-clear, Schneider said, ``Lives could be at risk. If we have a gunman in the building we certainly want to find him. It's premature to assume that it may not be a gunman."

The Senate was in session at the time, but the House was not as most lawmakers had left for the Memorial Day recess.

Representative Peter Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, conducting a House Intelligence Committee hearing, interrupted a witness to ask those attending the meeting to remain in the room with the doors closed.

``It's a little unsettling to get a BlackBerry message put in front of you that says there's gunfire in the building," he said.

One congressional staff member was taken to a hospital after a panic attack during the lockdown and search, Schneider said. The woman was released a short time later.

The search was a complicated one. The building, which covers a long city block, is connected to a second office building by an underground tunnel.

That building, in turn, is connected to the Capitol by a second underground tunnel.

The Rayburn House Office Building was completed in early 1965 and is the third of three constructed for the House of Representatives.

It has four stories above ground, two basements, and three levels of underground garage space.

Nearly two hours after the first alert went out about 10:45 a.m. , Capitol police sent an e-mail to occupants of the office building, saying they would soon begin a floor-by-floor search.

``During the search, the police officers will knock three times on each office door, announce `United States Capitol Police,' knock three additional times," and then confirm their identity by speaking a code word, it said.

Usually teeming with visitors, Capitol Hill was uncharacteristically quiet. Although it was the start of a holiday weekend, tourists were few.

Independence Avenue, which runs between the Rayburn building and the Capitol, was closed to traffic. Yellow caution tape strung from light posts cordoned off an area filled with emergency vehicles.

The Capitol was nearly deserted even though it remained open for official business. Anyone approaching it was asked for identification. No visitors were allowed in. Many lawmakers and staff members had left for a weeklong break.

The lockdown left dozens of people stuck in the Rayburn building for the better part of the day.

As the lockdown continued past the lunch hour, staffers in several offices were raiding their refrigerators to settle their hunger.

In one office, staffers hunkered down with the doors locked and deadbolted, staying away from the windows as they waited for the building to reopen.

Cathy Travis, a spokeswoman for Representative Solomon Ortiz, Democrat of Texas, was in his fourth-floor office at 1 p.m. when ``four or five really huge, burly young cops did a boom, boom, boom on the front door and walked in."

She said they told her and others to stay where they were, and to stay out of the way for a search that didn't seem to take more than a minute as they checked IDs and the office.

An Associated Press reporter heard noise outside a Rayburn press room and peeked out the door. A police officer, gun drawn, shouted, ``Get in the room. Get in the room."